List of Courses under Medicine and Surgery with Course Outlines

Variations in Medicine and Surgery Courses

There are many courses under medicine and surgery that may vary according to the medical school you are in. Even though the Medicine and Surgery courses may have different names, they impart the same knowledge in the medical student towards becoming a good Doctor. The list of courses under medicine and surgery below starts from 100 level to 600 level which is the final year. The course outlines vary from school to school. For instance, Medicine in University of Jos, Medical students start their clinical postings in 400 level with Pharmacology, Pathology and Part of Medicine and Surgery; they complete the second part of Medicine and Surgery in their final year (600 level). Some medical schools in Nigeria start pharmacology in 300 level, others write Pediatric in their Final year and not Medicine and Surgery.

To avoid confusion, I will explain Medicine and Surgery as a course and also as a field of study. Medicine and Surgery is the field of study where scientific principles are employed in order to treat diseases, prevent diseases and improve the standard or quality of life. Someone who studied Medicine and Surgery is called a Doctor. When you are studying Medicine and Surgery in the first 6 years of Medical school, you will be awarded a degree known as MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery). This means you have two simultaneous degrees (Medicine and Surgery) and it also means that you cannot study medicine alone or surgery alone. But immediately you complete the first 6 years and you start Residency program in order to train to become a Professional in a specific field of Medicine and Surgery such as becoming a Gynecologist or Obstetrician, you have to choose one field and specialize in it if your meet the Medical school requirements for admission.

When you start Study medicine and surgery, there are many courses some of which are Pediatrics, Gynecology and many others that will be listed below. Some of these courses have departments of their own while some fall under some departments. So you could have courses under medicine department, courses under surgery department, courses under community medicine, courses under Pediatrics, courses under Pathology and so on. Because of these, there is Medicine as a Course and Surgery as a course and Pathology as another course and Community Medicine as yet another course. So please do not confuse medicine as a course with Medicine as the field of study.

Please note that the Medicine and surgery courses listed below are included in the course outlines of all undergraduate medical students and it is mandatory for the medical student to have an experience in all these courses. This is the reasons why the students are rotated through all these courses by spending some weeks in each department concerned in the form of clinical postings.So during the clinical posting, you are posted to the department concerned and you are thought each of the courses both in class and in the clinics. After each clinical posting, the students write a test in order to ascertain their level of understanding of the clinical aspect of Medicine and Surgery; each test forms part of the continuous assessments.

List of Courses under Medicine and Surgery

1. Biochemistry
2. Physiology
3. Anatomy (including Embryology, Gross Anatomy and Histology)
4. Community medicine or Community Health
5. Pharmacology
6. Pathology (including Microbiology, Chemical pathology, Hematology and Histopathology)
7. Radiology
8. Ear Nose and Throat (E.N.T) or Maxillofacial surgery
9. Psychiatry
10. Family Medicine
11. Ophthalmology
12. Anesthesia
13. Pediatrics
14. Obstetrics and Gynecology
15. Surgery I will elaborate more on this
16. Medicine I will elaborate more

Sample of Course outline for Medicine department in Nigeria

Courses under Medicine Department

Medicine as a department or course has many other courses under it. Some of which are listed below.

1. Pulmonology
2. Gastroenterology
3. Endocrinology
4. Nephrology
5. Cardiology
6. Infectious Diseases
7. Rheumatology
8. Dermatology
9. Neurology

As many as the systems or organs of the body are, so are the courses under medicine; depending on the capacity of your medical school, some of these courses under medicine may not be available.

Courses under Surgery department

Just as medicine described above, surgery as a course or department has many other courses or departments under it and are also dependent on the capacity of your medical college and are named according to the body organs or systems.

1. Neurosurgery
2. Orthopedic
3. Trauma and Emergencies
4. Oncology
5. General surgery
6. Cardiothoracic surgery
7. Plastic and reconstructive surgery
8. Ophthalmology and ENT are part of surgery too but are already grouped under Medicine and Surgery courses above.

Courses related to Medicine and Surgery

There are some courses that are not part of Medicine and surgery but are related to medicine and surgery. These courses help to train other Medical professionals in order to manage a patient adequately to ensure good medical services. Studying these courses will not make you a Medical Doctor as each course has a name you called someone who studied it. The courses are listed below.

Related courses to medicine and surgery

1. Medical laboratory science (MLS)- someone who studied MLS is called a Medical Laboratory Scientist or shortened as Medical Lab Scientist.
2. Nursing science- someone who studied nursing is called a Nurse.
3. Pharmacy or Pharmaceutical sciences- someone who studied Pharmacy is called a Pharmacist
4. Physiotherapy someone who studied Physiotherapy is called a Physiotherapist
5. Science Laboratory Technology (SLT) someone who studied SLT is called a Laboratory technician.

If you are interested in becoming a Medical Doctor in Nigeria, you have to know the requirements and details of becoming a Doctor in Nigeria.